Ad Infinitum
by Gailstorm
Summary: In which Arthur gets trapped in a cave that won't let him leave, a secret gets revealed, and a candlestick is Merlin's multi-functional weapon of choice.


Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin. This story is for my own amusement.

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Arthur woke up and then immediately wished he hadn't. Everything hurt, as if his senses were trying to make up for lost time. He had no idea where he was, how long he'd been unconscious, or more importantly why he was in such pain. He opened his eyes which was a wasted effort as he could see nothing but shadows. He was probably going to die here, wherever _this_ was, alone and in the dark. It was not a particularly pleasant thought, so it was a bit of a relief when the distant sound of someone humming gave him something else to think about. After a moment's consideration, he slowly reached for his sword. He would get up, look menacingly at whoever was coming, maybe say something daring in a commanding manner, and hope they wouldn't realize that he was so very close to passing out.

It was a great plan, really, except for the small rather minor fact that he had no sword. It was not in its usual place at his belt, nor was it within reach of his hands. This was a problem. Furthermore, he could not get up because his legs were simply not cooperating with him. You can look intimidating without a sword, but it is nearly impossible to do so while lying helpless on the ground.

The humming stopped only to be replaced by the sound of footsteps. Arthur slowed his breathing and braced himself for whatever might happen next.

"Hello! I see you're awake now." The voice echoed from somewhere behind him.

That was unexpected, though it did figure that _he_ would be here.

"Merlin?" He asked, wondering if his ears were playing tricks on him.

"Yes, sire?" Nope, his ears worked just fine.

"Where are we?"

"Trapped in a cave. A portion of the ceiling collapsed." It made sense now. He must have been injured by the falling rubble.

"Since you are walking around, can I assume that you are unhurt?"

"Mostly." was his annoyingly vague answer. He got the strange feeling that Merlin was upset with him.

"You haven't, by any chance, done anything useful while I was asleep have you? Like found a way out, perhaps?" After a moment, he added, "And where is my sword?" He didn't feel right without it.

"I'm working on it. As for your sword, I moved it."

"Then will you kindly move it back?" These terse little answers of Merlin's were beginning to irritate him.

"No. I think it is safest where it is."

"Look, Merlin, I wasn't…." and stopped when a light suddenly sprang into existence, a light that emanated from the center of his manservant's palm. He watched in stunned silence as the other boy muttered a word and the whole of the cavern became illuminated. "You… How are you…"

"I'm a sorcerer." Merlin did the surprising and sat down next to him. "A rotten, two-faced, backstabbing, treacherous sorcerer." He continued bluntly.

Then Arthur hurt for an entirely different reason all together and covered it up quickly with outrage. He'd considered Merlin a friend and a good one although he'd never tell him that, wouldn't want it to go to his head. They'd even fought a dragon together… okay well, he'd fought the dragon and Merlin had managed to not die, but it was the same thing. They were comrades in arms and he'd been lying to him from the very beginning.

Also, it wasn't fair how he'd stolen all of the words that had come to mind and said them first. It left him gaping with nothing to say. He probably looked like a fish.

"Did I miss anything?" Merlin sounded oddly hopeful.

"Actually, yes, you did." He let loose a few choice words when a new and horrible idea struck him. "Is that why you took my sword? Is my present condition also your doing? Could you find no easier way to kill me?" He asked coldly.

"For the last time, I don't want to kill you. I've done nothing but try to help you. Entering this cave was your idea. We were hunting, remember?"

Arthur did not remember. His last memories were of getting ready for bed the night before. He shook his head and tried to concentrate on more important issues like the fact that he was stuck in a cave with traitorous sorcerer who'd hidden his sword. And there was a word he hadn't said yet… traitor.

He picked up where he left off only to stop again several minutes later because where Merlin should have looked scared, or repentant, or at the very least worried, he merely looked indifferent. He was also drawing shapes in the damp sand that covered the cave floor with what appeared to be a silver candlestick.

"Am I boring you, Merlin?" He thought it was heroic the way he was keeping his temper in check.

His servant coughed, looked guilty for a second and replied, "I am sorry. It's just that this is the tenth time I've heard this "speech" and it does get a tad old after a while. I assure you that the first time we went through this I was suitably cowed. I might even have cried."

"You cried? What did I say?" The situation was rapidly dissolving into the ridiculous. If it weren't for the pain in his side, a sure sign that he'd broken a rib or two, he'd have written this whole thing off as a bad dream ages ago. Arthur decided that the sane thing to do, at this point, was to focus on one weird statement made by Merlin at a time and see how it went from there.

"It's not really what you said, it's more like what you did." He pulled up his shirt to reveal an angry red line that traveled across his chest. "You tried to kill me."

"That's it?" It looked more like he'd scratched himself, and he certainly did not remember attacking Merlin. "Besides, if I had tried to kill you, you'd be dead… none of this walking around barely looking injured stuff."

"It bled a lot." He continued indignantly. "Plus, it's been hours or days since then."

"Hours _or_ days? Which one?"

"I don't know. It's anyone's guess how long we've been here. Every time I figure out how to escape, everything goes black and we wind up right back in this particular spot. Only I, unlike you, retain my memories of previous attempts."

"Why's that?"

"I must be special." Merlin shrugged and gave him a small grin.

It was almost like old times. They were in yet another terrible mess and he was trying to be funny. He didn't say anything in return, but shot him a look to show that he was not amused. Now was not the time for comedic relief.

His glare worked because the expression on Merlin's face became serious. He watched as his servant/sorcerer tilted his head to the side as if listening to something.

"Arthur, I know I'm not your favorite person right now, but we need to leave this area and fast. Is it okay if… Can I….?" He sounded panicked now, which was unusual as everything seemed to be the same as it had been ten minutes ago.

"Look, just help me up." It was embarrassing that he couldn't get to his feet without assistance.

"I can't believe I forgot about _them_." This was but one of the things Merlin mumbled under his breath as he slowly pulled him to his feet.

" You mean we're not alone in here?"

His question was answered by the ominous sound of hundreds of small feet scurrying towards them.

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The end is near... *coughs*... which means that this will be a short story.

The next chapter: Questions are answered, in order of importance.

Where did the candlestick come from?

What has Merlin forgotten about?

Why is escape attempt # 7 Merlin's least favorite?

Oh, and will Merlin and Arthur ever see the light of day?


End file.
